This year I’ve moved from a systems/security engineering position, sometimes dabbling in development and hacking away at some small projects, to a full-time software engineering role. It’s a welcome change, broadening my scope significantly, and I’m looking forward to continue engaging in multiple open source projects with a fresh mindset. Doing so has been a good opportunity to examine not only new processes and paradigms, but how various styles and limitations in associated communications can impact both a project, and its members. In particular, I’ve found that code reviews, both in open and closed source environments, can bring significant challenges to interpersonal and inter-team communication; these challenges are exacerbated when communication occurs between new and experienced members on a team. Following is a smattering of thoughts on maintaining helpful, productive communication as part of the code review process: